the united states has to steer between two parameters, which the obama administration is trying to do. on the one hand, not let china dominate the south and east china seas because china's geographic centrality and demographic and economic emerging power would make them too dominant in the region, more dangerous in the region than the u.s. has been over the past few decades. at the same time, it cannot let china dominate, we cannot get into a war or into a real fracas with china because of vietnamese and filipino nationalism. we have too much trade, equity, global warming, this that and the other, to allow any of this to be threatened by local nationalism. we have a narrow god that we have to ride through. looking long-term, we have to accommodate chinese military power to an extent. we will not have the pacific base in an american lake, and american naval lake, the way it was following world war ii. it will be more of a nuanced multi-polar order, but the u.s. needs to be the first among equals. now i will pivot to europe. i think europe is underrated. very much underrated. we see it